


The River's Bed

by Lokiitama



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Connor & Markus (Detroit: Become Human) Friendship, Drowning, Gen, Hank Anderson & Connor Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 10:50:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20226643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokiitama/pseuds/Lokiitama
Summary: Connor gasped as the current destabilized his legs, bringing him back to reality. Water got down his throat.He quickly shut his mouth.STRESS LEVELS...50%THIRIUM LINES CONTAMINATED AT 0.5%PLEASE SEEK CYBERLIFE ASSISTANCE





	The River's Bed

_ CyberLife Inc.  
_ _ Model RK800 _

_ SERIAL#: 313 248 317 - 52  
_ _ BIOS 8.7 revision 1827 _

  
_  
_REBOOT

_ LOADING OS… _

** _SYSTEM INITIALIZATION..._ **  
BIOCOMPONENTS… OK  
_ BIOSENSORS… OK  
_AI ENGINE... OK

** _MEMORY STATUS…  
_ ** _ ALL SYSTEMS … OK _

_ REBOOT COMPLETE _

As Connor stopped his cosmetic breathing, everything came back down to crash on him. The chase after the criminal, the way he managed to corner him on a tall bridge under reparations. His hair had whipped wildly around, as he moved towards the perp, citing the rights he had, he had taken a glance at the dark waters down below them. It had been a mistake. The height of the bridge made him lose concentration as a deep fear held his insides in a knot. 

It had been a mistake. The criminal - _Sam Burke, Anti-Android Activist, Filed for property damage _\- took his chances to run right at him, and hit him right where his thirium pump was located. Everything around him stuttered for a moment, and the next thing he knew, he was falling toward the water at a speed he wished he didn’t have to experience again. When his head hit the water, everything went black.

Not that it was much brighter now that his systems had rebooted. The only constant source of light was his circling yellow and red LED.

_ STRESS LEVELS...20%  
_ _ TEMPERATURES BELOW RECOMMENDED LEVELS _

He had to get out of the water.

It wasn’t like he could _ drown _ per se, not in the sense the humans would. He didn’t exactly need to breathe, aside from cosmetic reasons and making his ventilators work during heatwaves- _ “Just call them lungs, Connor, Christ…” _ Hank had said. However, if too much water got in his body, his system could get damaged.

Connor looked up from his position. During his reboot, he had had the time to sink down to the bed of the river. He could faintly make out the moon, partially hidden by the clouds… That wasn’t good.

_ STRESS LEVELS… 25% _

Looking around, he couldn’t tell whether he was close or not to the edge of the river. That could appear to be a problem. However, Connor was the state-of-the-art android CyberLife had ever conceived that had been in working order, and even in deviancy, he would be damned if he couldn’t find the solution to this problem.

He dutifully shook the fear that was still clenching down on him and took a few first steps in the _ cold _ void he was in.

Underwater, he was painfully slow and heavy. CyberLife still hadn’t released a model capable of swimming. They hadn’t developed the technology to make their endoskeleton light enough for them to float. It wouldn’t have bothered him before. But this situation made him wish they did.

Everything was cold, everything was slow. Everything was both quiet and loud at the same time. Everything reminded him too much and too little of the time he stood on that stage. Markus’ voice was the only thing in the quiet of freedom, while Amanda’s storm was raging inside himself. He had been almost unable to stop it, _ if he had taken up one second too much, if his legs had frozen up a bit before, … _

Connor gasped as the current destabilized his legs, bringing him back to reality. Water got down his throat.

He quickly shut his mouth.

_ STRESS LEVELS...50% _  
_ THIRIUM LINES CONTAMINATED AT 0.5% _ _  
_PLEASE SEEK CYBERLIFE ASSISTANCE

The tip of his fingers and toes were starting to be numb because of the freezing cold water. This wouldn’t be good. This _ wasn’t _ good. He didn’t know where he was walking. He didn’t know if he would eventually make it out. 

He needed help. 

He wouldn’t make it by himself at this rate.

His eyes twitched as he contacted whoever he could think about; Hank, Markus, North, Simon, Josh,... He had sent the same message to all of them. The situation he was in, and where he fell. 

He stayed in place. Finding him would be easier if he didn’t move. Besides, he just had to keep water out of his body. That would be easily done.

He grounded himself, desperately trying to get his mind away from the cold that was creeping up his limbs. Once he’d be out of there, he would pet Sumo, take care of the animal adoption center in New Jericho, plan out a movie night with Hank, and a whole movie marathon with Markus, North, Josh and Simon and listen to their easy banters about their favourite characters, go to a pet shop to take a look at the fishes, _ the gourami fishes _.

_ The gunshots, the dead bodies, the bullet piercing through his arm and the fall. The long deathly fall. The sound of Daniel hitting the ground not long before he did. The impact on the ground after his memory had been uploaded for RK800 313 248 317 - 52. _

Connor forcefully shut his mouth once again as the water going down his thirium lines seemed to freeze his insides.

_ STRESS LEVELS...60% _  
_ THIRIUM LINES CONTAMINATED AT 5% _ _  
_PLEASE SEEK CYBERLIFE ASSISTANCE

Why hadn’t the others replied yet? Maybe Hank was asleep, but the others should have been able to reply now. He checked the messages he sent.  
  
_MESSAGE_ _ERROR… RETRY?_

Why didn’t it work? It couldn’t _ not _ work. He needed help. He sent the message again. It showed the error once again. He tried once more. Twice. So much he didn’t bother checking the incremental numbers of tries.

None of it got through.

_ STRESS LEVELS...80% _

He tried moving around, to reach something, _ someone _ . He had to get out of there. _ He didn’t want to die! _

Panic made his movements unprecise and sloppy. He had barely made a few more steps that once again the current swept him off, dragging him for a few meters before Connor caught purchase again.

And let more water flood his biocomponents. 

_ STRESS LEVELS...87% _  
_ THIRIUM LINES CONTAMINATED AT 30% _ _  
_PLEASE SEEK CYBERLIFE ASSISTANCE

He sent other messages. He didn’t care what. He just wanted _ one message _ to get through. He wanted to get out of here. _ He was going to die _.

If the pressure on his body had been manageable before, it was making his stress levels slowly creep up now. It was heavy, it was cold.

As he tried to move toward _ somewhere _, he received a notification in HUD.

_ HAND SENSORS SYSTEM SHUTDOWN _ _  
_ _ PLEASE SEEK CYBERLIFE ASSISTANCE _

And then another one.  
  
_ WRIST JOINT DAMAGED _ _  
_ _ PLEASE SEEK CYBERLIFE ASSISTANCE _

He tried to flex his wrist. Nothing happened. Then he got another notification. And another one. And plenty of other ones. Connor felt his body lock up on the spot. It started with the extremities, and soon enough, he was but a standing statue at the bottom of a freezing river. His face would be soon next, and, in the fear that drowned him, he tried calling for help.

His jaw locked up. The current pushed him face down in the dirt of the river. His mouth was still open.

More water got in.

He closed his eyes, the last thing he saw being red-lit rocks, dirt and trash before they froze as well.

He tried sending more messages.

_ MESSAGE ERROR… UNABLE TO CONNECT _  
_ JOINTS STATUS… DAMAGED _  
_ SENSORS STATUS… DAMAGED _  
_ STRESS LEVEL... 92% _  
_ THIRIUM LINES CONTAMINATED AT 54% _ _  
_PLEASE SEEK CYBERLIFE ASSISTANCE

** _SHUTDOWN IN 00:24:59_ **

** **

* * *

At the first message, they simply thought they would have to expect Connor the following morning for a check-up of his systems. It wasn’t uncommon for his chases to take a turn for the worse. They had tried to knock some senses into him, but it had been to no avail. They would just receive brief information on what had happened, and they would see Connor either the same night or at dawn of the next day, depending on the gravity of his injuries.

So the first messages hadn’t worried them much. Connor was being Connor, and even though they wished for him to be more careful, he still had some problems coming to terms with his deviancy and took it too far. Further than they preferred.

Then came the five following message, all the same. That’s when Markus decided they had to go to the coordinates. The others had tried to reassure him, saying it was probably some sort of glitch, and they’d just find Connor with a few scratches. They probably had tried to reassure themselves too.

But that fake reassurance quickly came to a stop as 124 other messages popped up in rapid succession. This couldn’t possibly be a glitch.

When they arrived, the high bridge was entirely desert except for one lone car parked across the street, and a middle-aged human looking over the bridge towards the water. Hank Anderson.

He hurriedly joined them as they approached. He was worried. Panicked maybe. There was some sort of old fear burning in his eyes. 

Connor never contacted him about his injuries until they were tended to, he said. 

Hank’s phone rang up too many times in a row. At the same moment, notifications over notifications popped in the Androids’ HUD.

All the message ranged from “_ Please _ ” to “ _ I don’t want to die. _”

Something was terribly wrong.

It was Hank’s desperate gasp that grounded them back from the dread that was destroying their insides. They had to do something.

They all immediately started searching for clues of Connor’s whereabouts. They quickly found some light traces of thirium near the edge of the bridge. Since it didn’t continue anywhere, they quickly deduced that he had fallen into the water.

It had taken Markus, Josh and Simon to physically hold back Hank from jumping immediately in the water, and a solid yell-down between him and North to make him think his idea over.

As much as they understood where it came from, Hank needed to step down from this. Or help without getting himself in the water. It was night, and at this temperature, it would be a shock for his body and age, and his chances to get a thermic shock or hypothermia from it were too high.

They went over a plan- Markus, North, Josh and Simon would look for Connor while Hank would provide back up with the little materials he had in his car: a cable, a flashlight and, if they found Connor, the thirium packs he always kept around in case _ anything _happened to him while they were both out on the field.

They went near the riverbank and tied the cable around Markus’ waist. He took hold of the flashlight and dove into the river. 

The current was strong, and the water was freezing.

It took him some time to search, between the large area he had to cover up and how poorly lit the water was. It had taken him so much time the others got worried and pulled him up to see if he was still alive. He barely took the time to reassure them before he plunged back down. 

Markus didn’t want to think about how much time Connor had had to spend in there. The joints in his fingers were starting to freeze. He ignored all notifications he might have had to give all of his focus on the task. He was losing time.

Connor was losing time.

It’s when his wrists started losing their flexibility that he saw the red of Connor’s LED bouncing off the bottom of the river. He was unmoving, face down, LED covered by specks of dirt. His eyes were closed. And when Markus attempted to open a link with him, it got refused.

It was worse than he thought.

Markus moved against the current, reaching his frozen hands toward the other android.

He secured him in his arms, before pulling on the rope three times at best he could. They were both pulled up quickly after that.

Once out, they dragged Connor’s body further on the riverbank. He was full of mud, and his whole body was frozen shut. They needed a report of his systems as soon as they could, but with his frozen sensors, Markus couldn’t initiate an interface. Josh took care of it, while Simon and North did their best to warm up his hands.

A few seconds barely passed when Josh’s face contorted in concern… then fear. 

Connor had 3 minutes left before definitive shut down, and only another android from the RK series would be able to override the commands.

Hank made a noise that was too human. 

The man was hunched over, a bit on the side, hands clenching and unclenching on the cable he didn’t let go off. The fear that had been in his eyes earlier had evolved into terror. He was stuck between two worlds, between the present and the past. His words were stuttered, his tears were held. But they all understood the message.

Hank did not want to lose another son.

Markus felt a foreign rush of restlessness, anxiety, and pride. He looked down at his hands to see North interfacing with him. She stood up to Hank, declaring nobody would die tonight. And definitely not under her watch.

Markus could move his hands and interface again. He didn’t waste another second and rushed to Connor’s side, he opened a link with him.

** **

_ Model RK800  
_ _ SERIAL#: 313 248 317 - 52 _

** **

** _STATUS_ **

_ MESSAGE ERROR… UNABLE TO CONNECT _  
_ JOINTS STATUS… DAMAGED _  
_ SENSORS STATUS… DAMAGED _  
_ STRESS LEVEL... 98% _  
_ THIRIUM LINES CONTAMINATED AT 73% _ _  
_PLEASE SEEK CYBERLIFE ASSISTANCE

** _SHUTDOWN IN 00:01:13_ **

_ USER: RK200 #684 842 971 _ _  
_ _ OVERRIDE COMMAND SHUTDOWN _

…

…

…

_ OVERRIDE ACCEPTED _

_ THIRIUM PURGE NECESSARY… ACCEPT? _

** _Y_ **

Connor’s body shook, eyes opening wide, as he turned to the side, releasing water-diluted thirium all over the grass. There was a lot of it, and in any other circumstances, they probably would have found it disgusting. But for now, it was a weight off their shoulders. The relief of seeing their friend _ alive _ was more important than anything. As Connor slowly finished coughing out most of his contaminated thirium, Simon hurriedly brought closer the packs they had prepared. 

Hank had let out a sob, before dropping to his knees next to Connor, taking his hand between his, holding it close to his heart. 

He was rewarded with an immediate squeeze back.

When the human raised his eyes, Connor, _ his son _, was looking at him. He was wet and tired, and Hank probably never saw him this weak.

He couldn’t help the tears when Connor gave him a slight smile and told him;

_ “I’m alive.” _

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
I hope you enjoyed this! This was a drabble stemmed from an idea that had been plaguing me for a few months.


End file.
